Deathscapes

Reza Barati 11i - Good Friday

A Recurring Violence: Good Friday 2017

[imagecaption] Visible bullet holes in fences following Good Friday shooting, 2017. An investigation by Amnesty International examined what happened on that night, affirming the authenticity of photographic evidence provided by asylum seekers and exposing the subsequent ‘reckless and irresponsible’ claims made by Minister Dutton. [/imagecaption]

The shots fired into the Manus prison on Good Friday 2017 by drunken PNG naval officers were a terrifying reminder of the attacks in February 2014, and proof that the Australian government still cannot guarantee the safety of the men held there. Fortunately, on this occasion there were no casualties, however the event reinforced the sense that their lives were not worthy of protection. In 2017 as in 2014, the Immigration Minister misrepresented events in order to redirect blame onto the victims. His Department initially maintained that only warning shots were fired into the air and that no one had been injured. The truth was later revealed in Senate hearings when the Department admitted that shots had been fired laterally into the compounds and nine people had sustained injuries.